Saturday, March 19, 2011

Aid agencies prepare for exodus from Libyan

.- The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) warned as they prepare for a possible mass exodus from Libya. The alert was launched due to the growing tension that exists in that country after the announcement of the no-fly zone. UNHCR and IOM also called on Tunisia and Egypt to keep their borders open, as close to the flow of displaced persons would be "the worst case scenario" for how events unfold.

So far about 300 thousand migrant workers have left Libya for the borders of Tunisia and Egypt, also in Algeria and Niger, however, humanitarian agencies are preparing for that number to grow significantly, at a press conference said Andrew Harper, UNHCR specialist in the Middle East. "Events change on the ground in a much more rapid than we predicted, Harper said, so 'the strategy to follow at this time is to be extremely flexible and prepare for what may come ".

Harper recalled that the owner of the UNHCR, Antonio Guterres, has insisted that "this humanitarian crisis is far from over." For his part, Fernando Calle, IOM, adding that "with the decision of the no-fly zone, we can not know how to evolve the movement to the borders." He noted that about six thousand 500 people still remain stranded in border areas of Libya with Tunisia and Egypt, and about a thousand 500 in Algeria and Niger.

He said that so far, IOM and UNHCR have been able to repatriate 50 000 people with planes and boats provided by different governments in countries such as Bangladesh, Ghana and Sudan. "This is one of the largest humanitarian evacuations in history," he said.

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